Metabolomic and transcriptomice analyses of flavonoid biosynthesis in apricot fruits

Yilin Chen; Wenwen Li; Kai Jia; Kang Liao; Liqiang Liu; Guoquan Fan; Shikui Zhang; Yatong Wang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1210309

Metabolomic and transcriptomice analyses of flavonoid biosynthesis in apricot fruits

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Jul 18:14:1210309. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1210309. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yilin Chen¹, Wenwen Li^{1

2}, Kai Jia¹, Kang Liao¹, Liqiang Liu¹, Guoquan Fan³, Shikui Zhang³, Yatong Wang³

Affiliations

¹ College of Horticulture, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, China.
² Postdoctoral Research Station of Crop Science, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, China.
³ Luntai Fruit Tree Resource Nursery, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Luntai, China.

Abstract

Introduction: Flavonoids, as secondary metabolites in plants, play important roles in many biological processes and responses to environmental factors.

Methods: Apricot fruits are rich in flavonoid compounds, and in this study, we performed a combined metabolomic and transcriptomic analysis of orange flesh (JN) and white flesh (ZS) apricot fruits.

Results and discussion: A total of 222 differentially accumulated flavonoids (DAFs) and 15855 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in flavonoid biosynthesis were identified. The biosynthesis of flavonoids in apricot fruit may be regulated by 17 enzyme-encoding genes, namely PAL (2), 4CL (9), C4H (1), HCT (15), C3'H (4), CHS (2), CHI (3), F3H (1), F3'H (CYP75B1) (2), F3'5'H (4), DFR (4), LAR (1), FLS (3), ANS (9), ANR (2), UGT79B1 (6) and CYP81E (2). A structural gene-transcription factor (TF) correlation analysis yielded 3 TFs (2 bHLH, 1 MYB) highly correlated with 2 structural genes. In addition, we obtained 26 candidate genes involved in the biosynthesis of 8 differentially accumulated flavonoids metabolites in ZS by weighted gene coexpression network analysis. The candidate genes and transcription factors identified in this study will provide a highly valuable molecular basis for the in-depth study of flavonoid biosynthesis in apricot fruits.

Keywords: apricot; flavonoid biosynthesis; metabolomics; transcriptomics; weighted gene coexpression network analysis.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (2021D01B53), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2021M693898), the Postdoctoral Station of Crop Science of Xinjiang Agricultural University, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32200183), and the Graduate Student Innovation Project of Xinjiang Agricultural University (XJAUGRI2023031).